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Informist, Thursday, May 7, 2026

 

--HC notice to NDTV on Anil Ambani defamation plea over CBI, ED case coverage

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Thursday issued a notice to New Delhi Television Ltd. on Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Chairman Anil Ambani's defamation suit over coverage of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate cases against him and his companies. Ambani said that Adani Group, which holds a majority stake in NDTV, wants to take over the petitioner's companies and has published 72 pointed articles against him in the last few months.  

 

The probe agencies have filed cases against Reliance Communications Ltd. and others, however, every time a person is arrested, NDTV has named Ambani, said the petitioner. Ambani has sought INR 21.00 million in damages from NDTV for harming his reputation. On the amount sought by Ambani, Justice Subramonium Prasad remarked that it was like a drop in the ocean. "2.1 crore (INR 21 million) has been sought in damages, I think that is unth ke muh me jeera," Justice Prasad said.

 

The high court said that Ambani had to state arguments that the news was so wrong that it required an injunction. The court said that it had also earlier also passed injunction orders against media houses but not on the first date and only after eight hearings. It will hear the case next on Jul. 19.

 

Ambani said that a report on NDTV stated that assets worth INR 14 billion were attached by Enforcement Directorate in a case against him. Here, the case by the Enforcement Directorate was against Reliance Communications and other companies, said Ambani. Highlighting another instance, Ambani said NDTV reported that the Supreme Court had barred him from leaving the country. However, Ambani himself had given an undertaking to the apex court that he will not leave India without its permission, he said. 

 

The case relates to Reliance Communications Ltd. and its group entities, Reliance Infratel Ltd. and Reliance Telecom Ltd., borrowing INR 315.80 billion from a consortium of banks led by SBI between 2013 and 2017. SBI, through its Deputy General Manager Jyoti Kumar, registered the first information report on Aug. 21, 2025. The complaint alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct by Reliance Communications, Anil Ambani and other unknown public servants and individuals, resulting in a wrongful loss of INR 29.29 billion. The first information report was based on a forensic audit report covering the period 2013 to 2017. 

 

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had asked the Enforcement Directorate to constitute a special investigation team of senior officials to take all necessary steps to bring the bank fraud investigation against Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, its Chairman Anil Ambani, Reliance Communications Ltd., and related entities to a logical conclusion. The bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant had criticised the Enforcement Directorate over its "explained" delay in conducting a probe against the Reliance group companies.

 

The top court had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the conduct of bank officials to check whether funds were released to Reliance companies in collusion with bank officers. The apex court said the CBI must look into the nexus, collusion, or conspiracy between bank officials and Reliance companies, and take all lawful measures needed to conclude the probe.

 

At 1300 IST, the shares of NDTV traded 1.0% higher at INR 80.99 on the National Stock Exchange, shares of Reliance Infrastructure were down 5.0% at INR 74.73, and shares of Reliance Communications were up 2.1% at INR 0.99.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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